RTI reveals 12 Mercy petitions yet to be decided

31 Aug, 2012

Reply to an application filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has shown that 12 mercy petitions of death convicts are pending, 11 of which are before President Pranab Mukherjee, while that of Balwant Singh Rajoana, killer of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, is with the Home Ministry.

Most of the petitions have been pending for long, some dating back to 2003. It has come to light that in 2010, there were 32 mercy petitions, 18 of which were decided by the then President Pratibha Patil. Amongst the 11 current mercy petitions pending with the President, there is also the petition of Mohammed Afzal Guru who was convicted in the 2001 Parliament attacks.

There is currently no prescribed time frame for taking a decision on the mercy petitions.